Nacaduba biocellata

[Silverstreak]

Yesterday ,I did a check on the "location" on the main island of Singapore where this species normally make its appearance around this time of the year, I did not find any.

Today , I was presently surprised to find hundreds of them on the flowering Acacia auriculiformis on the Keppel Bay area.

This species was a recent discovery in Singapore and reported in the Blog article here (http://butterflycircle.blogspot.com/2008/02/new-lycaenidae-species-for-singapore_10.html) and also during a survey of Pulau Semakau (http://butterflycircle.blogspot.com/2009/01/pulau-semakau-butterfly-survey.html)

Looks like this tiny blue (http://www.butterflycircle.com/checklist2/index.php?page=butt_details&butt_id=328)is gonna be here to stay with plenty of its hostplant all over the island.

A shot of this tiny Blue back in Feb 2008
http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d156/Schir/2008_02_29_IMG_01419-1.jpg
ISO250 1/30s F/11 Fill-flash , Handheld.
Canon 40D +Tamron 180 + EX580


:cheers:

[Peacock Royal]

Beautiful shot and good to know this little Blue has spread to other areas.

[Great Mormon]

Beautifully executed shot Sunny, love the green background and the razor sharp image, you do have superb hand holding skills!

Looks like we will be seeing this little fella more in the future

[Silverstreak]

Let's hope Horace can locate the eggs/cats and record the species' life cycle.

Will shoot them when I head that way next week, this tiny butt is a difficult subject as they seldom come down to rest at eye level in this location . They are mostly on the tree top except for a few stragglers.

:cheers:

[Silverstreak]

:what::omg: An explosion of this tiny blue at the location , I would say thousands of them Tailess Line Blue and the Two Spotted Line Blue.

Need lots of patience waiting for them to come down and perch............they are all in a mating frenzy and were zipping about and not stopping.

[horace2264]

I was visiting the Semanga ground near DFNP just now, and was surprised to see one Nacaduba biocellata at one Acacia mangium (Silver Wattle) tree. At this site, along the edge of the open track, there are quite a few Silver Wattle growing in close proximity to the Earleaf Acacia (Black Wattle).

This tiny blue took flight from the flowering shrub below the tree when I walked near. It then perched atop one large "leaf" (or more correctly phyllode) of this tree, and was too far away for me to see the two spots clearly in the bright sunlight. A zoom view on the camera allowed me to deduce that it is another N. biocellata.

Hence this species is showing sign of a wider distribution than previously known.

[Banded Yeoman]

Where is the semanga ground?

[Silverstreak]

The thousands of 2SLB reported disappeared without a trace in approx 5 weeks!:hmmm:

No a single one sighted!!

Have to wait for another 12 months??

Let's check if P. Semakau still has it when we are there this Sunday.

[Silverstreak]

The thousands of 2SLB that peaked around mid Jan disappeared without a trace in approx 5 weeks! None sighted when I checked it on 15th Feb :hmmm:

Yes Not a single one sighted!! The same thing happened on the other location which we had being monitoring the last 3 years, their appearance is always around 5-6 weeks and disappeared thereafter. However, This year this other location none was sighted.

Have to wait for another 12 months??

Let's check if P. Semakau still has it when we are there this Sunday.

[Wanderer]

migrated?

[Silverstreak]

A handful of TSLB were noted to be around and mating on P Semakau Survey (http://www.butterflycircle.com/forums/showthread.php?p=88390#post88390) today.

:cheers: